BT makes switch to IPv6

BT is switching its entire network of over seven million customers to IPv6.

The telco laid out the plans during a presentation at the UK IPv6 Council conference, stating its plans to have the switch completed by the end of 2016.

Currently, the company has migrated around 1.5 million of its 7.8 million customer base to IPv6, with the majority still on IPv4.

This comes shortly after the US depleted its stock of IPv4 and Dr. Tim Chown of Southampton University, Chair of the UK IPv6 Council, said: "The UK is not technically out yet but it is running on fumes."

Sky is also in the process of rolling IPv6 out to its customers, with the company having moved around one million customers so far.

Moving to the new standard IPv6 will provide a longer term solution to the address problem. The standard offers around 340 undecillon addresses, compared to 4.3 billion offered by IPv4.